The drive of justice.
What They Say:
Mochizuki General Hospital boasts some of the most well-trained (and well-endowed) nurses in town. But though these ladies spend much of their day battling sickness, their after-hours are spent fighting a very different sort of disease…Under the leadership of the hospital chairman, a handful of staff members and local teenagers form a group of mercenary assassins, targeting the “cancers” of society and excising those individuals before their wickedness spreads.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While the opening installment of Triage X didn’t exactly light the world on fire, I admit that it fell into that kind of guilty pleasure territory for me just because I enjoy the absurdity of the character designs. The concept itself is fairly straightforward as we get a secret group dealing with the cancerous elements of society and cutting them out in a hard and fast way, so it didn’t really set itself apart there. But it had a decent sense of action about it when those scenes hit and there’s the appeal in all the fanservice since they’re open about it and not trying to be something else overall, even if there is a darker edge to the show because of the main concept. So with it being a ten episode series, digging in for me felt like an easy commitment to make since it ticks several boxes for me. And it’s not like I could ask any of the other reviewers to tackle this thing.
With this episode, we actually get a decent bit of time at the hospital that helps to let the various characters just go about their normal days, which helps to humanize them and make them a bit more accessible. Arashi is Arashi though and is just dead inside because of all that he’s done, so he’s at least consistent here. But it is good to see how they all have their lives outside of the organization, and to see them come together for the next assignment that they have within the secret facility within the hospital. It’s also an important sequence because it brings Arashi into the fold fully as a member of Black Label and puts him on the pairing team with Mikoto under the name of Ampule One. It’s all little organizational things, but it definitely helps to connect us to the show in a surprisingly good way.
The focus with this episode is on the one that got away, Jin Misaki, which Mochizuki does admit happens because not everything goes to plan. But with him getting away, he’s now causing more problems that’s resulted in the death of an old woman that the girls were friends with and that’s set them all on the hard and firm path of taking him down. That was already a given considering he’s involved in dealing with something called Platinum Lily, but this is the added incentive. It also helps to reinforce the detective’s motivations to go after Misaki since he was already frustrated by how things were playing out. Amusingly, going after where they are turns into a pretty big and messy situation with the various sides involved as we get the Black Label team, a couple of cops and plenty of thugs. That provides for some good action, especially of the bouncy kind considering the women’s outfits, and with some decent moments it certainly provides something that a lot of shows each season don’t have.
It does go kind of stupidly big in a way when Arashi finally arrives on the scene with his “iron mask” helmet and reinforced body armor as he saves the day, allowing Mikoto to save the detective and the other cop from the thugs that are working for Misaki’s man. Arashi’s hardened style is old school aloof in plenty of ways, but it works here against the rest of the cast and allows it to have a hard edge that’s not softened by the smiles and curves of the others. The women are no slouches themselves though as they’re just as brutal as he is, just in different ways. Arashi’s the one that dominates here though, and seeing his speech with Misaki about why he does what he does, and having Mikoto understand that he’s finding another way to do certain things, makes both of them a bit more accessible as well since we get a touch of his past. It all plays big, fast and loose and there’s an appeal about it as Arashi goes on about removing this tumor from the city.
In Summary:
The first episode of Triage X had a decent bit of ground to cover about its premise but it also had to provide enough flash and fanservice in order to make sure people came back for more since they knew that was a big part of the draw. The story side isn’t deeper here, but we get a little more character material (and most fog) this time around and that helps to make the characters a little more accessible, even if half of them are still hard to name since they’ve got simple roles. Arashi’s going to be the main focus as it goes on with Mikoto as the balance and both have plenty of things to work with if they’re allowed to be explored. The action here is decent, the fanservice hits the right spots for the most part and it has the kind of blending that I was hoping that it would. I’m not looking for high art or mind blowing stories here. I’m looking for action, fun and fanservice with enough of a plot to hold it together. So far, that’s what it looks like I’m going to get.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
